


Etiquette

by sodappend



Series: Dragonrider AU [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-16 07:18:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7257898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sodappend/pseuds/sodappend
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I like it when you look at me like that."</p><p>(In which Kuroo is hopelessly in love with his dragon partner)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Etiquette

For someone who had grumbled so much about their little outing to the river, Kenma had managed to make himself comfortable quite quickly.

He was in his human form, lying on one of the many large rocks that jutted out of the water, limbs sprawled out around him as he basked. He was also very naked.

Tetsurou didn't know how much more of this he could take.

He knew that dragon customs and social norms were different from humans’. He understood that, respected and embraced the differences, and knew that Kenma wouldn't be Kenma without all the weird quirks that came with him being a dragon.

But he really, _really_ wished Kenma would wear clothes in his human form.

Tetsurou knew he should be used to this, since the two of them had been effectively living together in the two years since their formal training started when Tetsurou turned sixteen. They'd known each other for ages even before that, and ever since they were children, Kenma had made it clear that he was not a fan of human clothing.

So it normally wouldn't bother Tetsurou, except he had somewhat recently realised that he didn't just _love_ Kenma as a friend and future dragon partner, but that he was also _in love_ with him in ways far, far beyond that. And even more recently, he'd been having thoughts about how else he'd like to see Kenma naked. Specifically under him. Or on top of him. He didn't really care either way.

He’d thought about Kenma this way before, and he'd always just chalked it up to hormones. He could deal with that. After years of building the familiarity that the two of them shared, it was realising the depth of his own feelings that Tetsurou wasn't sure what to do about. The last thing he wanted was to make Kenma feel awkward around him, but at the same time it was getting harder and harder to act normal without saying anything.

His worry didn't stop him from looking, though. Kenma was completely relaxed, face turned to one side to soak up the sun. Tetsurou would think it was adorable if he wasn't so distracted by the expanse of entirely exposed skin.

“I thought you wanted to fish,” Kenma said, eyes snapping open to meet Tetsurou’s gaze. Tetsurou froze for a split second, flustered by the usual intense focus in Kenma’s stare. Kenma raised a brow at him.

“I am!” Tetsurou said, too quickly. He grabbed his fishing pole and the bucket of bait he’d had Kenma dig up that morning, and tilted his head to call Kenma back to land. “I’m done setting up camp. C’mon.”

Kenma rolled his eyes, then closed them again and turned his head. Tetsurou was about to grumble about being ignored when Kenma sat up abruptly, shifting into his dragon form to jump the meter-and-a-half between his rock and the riverbank before shifting back.

“Was that necessary?” Tetsurou asked dryly. Kenma just shrugged.

“It was faster. And less wet.”

Tetsurou snorted.

He loaded supplies for that afternoon into their saddlebag, Kenma making sure Tetsurou didn’t forget to include the stewed apples with their lunch. When he was done, Kenma shifted and allowed Tetsurou to strap the bag onto him - sans saddle, as Tetsurou preferred not to use it outside of formal training.

Their favourite fishing spot was only a few seconds’ ride away from the camp, unreachable on foot, where the land gave way abruptly to fairly deep, crystal clear water. Tetsurou saw all the activity that went on below, schools of fish occasionally giving way to the odd predator.

Tetsurou unpacked quickly, grabbing his fishing pole and his bucket, and headed towards the edge of the water. He baited his line, cast it, and sat down. Kenma shifted back into a human, _still naked_ , Tetsurou thought with an edge of hysteria, before plopping down beside him.

Three hours later, they’d eaten their lunch, four servings of stewed apples, and Kenma had taken a nap. Tetsurou still hadn’t caught any fish.

“You should give up. You’re terrible at this,” Kenma said, peering down into the water at the fish mostly ignoring Tetsurou’s bait, occasionally nibbling at it, but never catching.

“I’ll get one soon, I can feel it,” Tetsurou said, flashing Kenma a thumbs up. He rolled his eyes, then yawned, stretching his arms up over his head.

“You always say that.” Kenma said. Tetsurou ignored him. Kenma huffed under his breath.

Minutes later found Kenma in his dragon form, body curled around Tetsurou’s back, head hanging over the water. Seeing a large fish swim by, he dunked his head in and came up with it wriggling in his mouth.

“Hey! I was gonna get that.” Tetsurou said, frowning at his now-baitless hook.

Kenma made a sniffing noise before swallowing the fish whole.

“Was too,” Tetsurou said as he cast another line. Kenma snorted, dipped his head back in, and came up chewing on another mouthful of fish. Tetsurou groaned and let his head fall back against Kenma’s side.

“Fine. I give up.” Tetsurou said, setting his rod down and letting himself relax against Kenma. Kenma let his tail swing in front of Tetsurou, ‘I told you so’ blatant in the way he swung in tauntingly in front of Tetsurou’s face. Tetsurou chuckled, playfully swatting it away before grabbing it and coaxing Kenma to let it rest on his lap.

They sat like that until the sky began to darken, staring out at the water, Tetsurou running his hands over the smooth, gold-tipped black scales on Kenma’s tail.

“We should head back,” Tetsurou said, but making no move to stand. Kenma looked at him before dipping his head back in the water and coming up to deposit five large fish in front of where Tetsurou’s feet were crossed.

“Thanks,” Tetsurou said, patting Kenma’s side, knowing Kenma was probably laughing at him, but when he looked up to meet Kenma's eyes he was serious, eyes glinting in the early sunset. “What-”

Kenma surged forward, bumping his muzzle gently against Tetsurou’s mouth before getting up to walk away in the direction of where they’d put away their things. Alone at the edge of the water, Tetsurou’s mind was racing. He had no idea why Kenma had done that; it was nothing he’d even done in the nine years they’ve known each other. He went through every interaction, every dragon etiquette lesson he’d inadvertently picked up growing up surrounded by them, and the only thing that resembled that split-second of contact was a human kiss, and the implications of that was making his stomach twist itself into knots.

“Are we going?” Kenma asked from somewhere behind him. Tetsurou scrambled to his feet, placing the fish in the bait bucket after he’d emptied and rinsed it in the water, and by the time he reached Kenma he was a dragon again, bag packed placed neatly at his feet to be strapped on.

The flight to the campsite was short and silent - Kenma didn’t like talking in his dragon form - and Tetsurou found himself more and more wound up the longer the silence stretched out. Back at the campsite they set up quickly, Kenma blowing a fire onto the logs that were laid out and Tetsurou placing skewers of fish over it. By the time Tetsurou had washed and changed, though, Kenma still hadn’t shifted, stretched out in front of the fire, and Tetsurou nearly groaned in exasperation. He didn’t know what else he expected from Kenma, the master of evasion, but he wasn’t going to make things easy. He grabbed two fish off the fire, still a little underdone, the way Kenma liked, and settled down beside him instead of leaning against him.

“You can’t eat if you don’t shift back. These’ll be barely a bite for you like that,” Tetsurou said, knowing Kenma was well aware of that fact, but trying to let him know that he knew he was being avoided - and that he wanted to talk despite that. Kenma only shifted a little, lifting his head off the ground, eyes not straying from the fire. Tetsurou set the fish down on one of the warm logs and grabbed at Kenma’s tail instead, pressing it down against his lap though Kenma was trying to pull it away.

When Kenma gave up, letting his tail go limp on Tetsurou’s lap, Tetsurou took a deep breath, trying to draw strength from that small point of contact, a far cry from the press of their bodies that was the norm.

“I’m not a dragon,” Tetsurou started, hoping Kenma couldn’t pick up on the slight tremble in his voice but knowing he probably did. He felt Kenma look at him, _finally_ , and found the will to continue.

“I’m not a dragon, and though I know you as well as I ever could, there are things I’ll never understand,” he said, grip tightening on Kenma’s tail when he felt it shift. “I don’t know why you did that, earlier, and why you don’t want to talk about it.

“But I know what I wanted it to be. And I know why I’m doing this.”

Tetsurou swallowed, finally lifting his hands to hold Kenma’s face in place, and leaned forward to press a kiss on his muzzle.

It was awkward, and Tetsurou didn’t really know what he was doing, didn’t know if he was kissing Kenma in the right spot because he didn’t exactly _have_ lips in this form, but one moment his lips were pressed against cool, smooth scales, then the next they weren’t, and his hands were empty, and Kenma-as-a-human was sitting in front of him, face flushed, eyes wide with confusion.

“You-”

“I like you.” Tetsurou said, then shook his head. “I love you. As my partner, obviously, and my best friend, but- also much more than that.”

There was a moment of silence, a terrifying moment where Kenma stared at him and said nothing, then a breath later he was on Tetsurou’s lap, fingers clenching in his shirt, burying his face in the crook of Tetsurou’s neck with small, relieved breaths.

“So I’ll take that as you saying you _don’t_ hate me for this?” Tetsurou asked with a tentative smile.

Kenma glared up at him, hands still trembling, before his face softened and he chuckled.

“Shut up, Kuro,” he said, releasing Tetsurou’s shirt so he could pull his face down for a kiss.

As much as Tetsurou loved the short, sweet press of Kenma’s muzzle against his skin, there was nothing quite like the soft warmth of his lips.

 

“Kenma,” Tetsurou started later, both of them curled up on his pallet, Kenma’s own crumpled up abandoned a few feet away.

“Hm?"

“You’re going to have to start wearing more clothes around me, if we’re going to be doing this,” Tetsurou said.

“Why?” Kenma asked, turning around so he could meet Tetsurou’s eyes.

“I can’t-” Tetsurou stuttered, not knowing how to explain. _Fuck it_ , he thought, _blunt is always the best with Kenma._

“I want to touch you. All the time,” he said, “It might be a little early for that. And I don’t want to make you uncomfortable,”

Even in the low light of the fire, he could see Kenma’s brows furrow in thought. After a moment, he seems to realise something.

“It doesn’t make me uncomfortable; I like it when you look at me like that - you do it all the time,” Kenma said, and Tetsurou felt his face go scarlet. “And I want you to touch me all the time, too. I don’t see why I need to start wearing clothes. It seems detrimental to both of us.”

Tetsurou just groaned in Kenma’s hair. He regretted everything.

As he drifted off to Kenma’s scent and the warmth of his legs tangled with his, he dismissed the thought.

He didn't regret anything at all.

**Author's Note:**

> here have almost two thousand words in which nothing really happens because the course of the fic changed halfway through.
> 
> (can you tell there was supposed to be even more nudity involved)


End file.
